He’s worked in St. Charles Parish Public Schools for over a decade as a high school Algebra I teacher, an assistant track and basketball coach, head cross country and indoor track coach, Staff Development Coordinator and assistant principal. And now, he will be a principal.
It was announced earlier this month that Jose Gonzales will take over of principal at Hahnville High School. The school is a place, he said, that he feels a strong attachment to.
“Being at Hahnville High School for 11 of the past 12 years, I have a deep connection to the school, student body, faculty, staff and surrounding community,” Gonzales said. “I have always resigned myself to do whatever is needed from me to help the school succeed. Even in the classroom and working with the most struggling students, my mindset has always been ‘I’ll go where you need me to go and do what you need me to do.’ I’m not embellishing or exaggerating when I say that I love this school, the students in it, the faculty/staff that make it up and the community that supports it.”
Gonzales started at HHS right out of college, and said he owes so much to the district and school.
“I’m ecstatic at the thought of my leading the Tiger family into the future,” the Destrehan resident said. “It’s the middle of the summer and I’m ready for 21-22 to already begin. Even as I transition into my new role as principal and begin to have conversations with faculty, staff, students and community members about next steps moving forward, I’m just excited to get back into the swing of things.”
Gonzales said one of the greatest things that he loves about HHS is the faculty, staff and student’s ability to improvise based on the current situation.
“Take the 20-21 COVID year, for instance,” he said. “We reimagined so many services that we just naturally had done over the years so quickly and on the fly.”
One particular goal of his for this coming school year, Gonzales said, is to open up the lines of communication with parents as much as he can.
“There are so many events and plans in motion at the high school level that often times, our communication can be limited to logistics or the informing of the what/where/when/why of events,” he said. “I hope that this year – through the collaboration with faculty, staff, and administration – we can communicate about individual student progress … I never want individuals to feel as if they aren’t caught up or knowledgeable about the situation.”
Three other focus areas of the school discussed during recent summer planning sessions, Gonzales said, have been using a collaborative student-level data review process to make instructional decisions so that all students succeed, boosting the school’s ACT/Workkeys scores and subscores, and supporting students in their social-emotional development.
“Besides those, every student comes with his or her own set of personal goals,” he said. “We want to be there to support and encourage them, and of course, help pick them up if they falter. It’s what a family does. At the end of the day, I want each student to know that HHS is their home, they will always be a part of the Tiger family and that they have dozens of individuals behind them, rooting for them every step of the way.”
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